I’ve really been enjoying making macarons lately, but my most recent attempt needs some slight tweaking (I didn’t even take pictures). But I thought I would share it with you anyway

Using the recipe that I previously posted, I modified the cookie ingredients to achieve the Mexican Hot Chocolate Flavor. For those of you that don’t know what Mexican Hot Chocolate is, click here. I would highly recommend trying some. And for those of you in Chicago, Xoco (a Rick Bayless restaurant) has STELLAR Mexican Hot Chocolate.

Ingredients (for cookies)

1/2 cup ground almonds (or almond flour…I used Red Mill)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder

3 large egg whites (at room temp.)

5 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean

Combine the ingredients using the recipe linked here, including the cinnamon, cayenne pepper, and cocoa-powder in the sifting process.

I think that I added too much cayenne, but everyone in my office really liked them and thought it was ok. The next time I make these, I’ll probably be doing 1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne.

All in all, the macarons paired really nicely with the bittersweet ganache that is listed in the recipes linked. (I love that ganache). I think that a light vanilla cream would also work well.